


blood from a stone

by anenko



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Community: 31_days, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-14
Updated: 2009-11-14
Packaged: 2017-10-02 18:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anenko/pseuds/anenko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where the river goes, Hamma follows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	blood from a stone

She can smell water on the air.

Hamma walks for three days, and is mad with exhaustion and hope when she falls into the river. The water is cold, and cloudy with the Fire Nation's filth--but Hamma has been weak and starved for too long to care. She scrubs dirt and blood from her skin, winds water between her fingers, drinks until her sunken belly swells and aches.

_Welcome,_ the water murmurs, _welcome home._

Home is far away--a world away, and a lifetime ago. Water ripples around Hamma's shoulders, weaves through her hair, whispers secrets and promises into her ears. _We will be your home,_ it says, _and we will be your strength._

Hamma has drawn water from blood, and has made men break to her will--she has survived on _nothing_ for years. She sees water everywhere, now: the Fire Nation is made of lakes, and rivers; air is heavy with moisture, plants hoard water, and the very people of the Fire Nation are ignorant to the weakness of their own bodies, their own blood.

Hamma follows the river to one town, and then the next, and another. She flows like water, like blood, and dreams of stopping the beating heart of the Fire Nation.


End file.
